The difference between the fifth edition of Toronto’s comedy festival JFL42, and the 2012 event is literally like night and day.

The festival, taking place from Sept. 22 to Oct. 1, still gives fans access to headlining shows at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. This year, a record number of 10 shows featuring eight comedians: Jim Gaffigan, Jim Jefferies, Trevor Noah, Roseanne Barr, Anthony Jeselnik, Tig Notaro, Chris D’Elia and Demetri Martin.

Also unchanged, festivalgoers will continue to choose from 42 comedy favourites — nobody messes with the number 42. Some things about JFL42 are sacred and will never change.

However, JFL42 is venturing for the first time into daylight hours this year with the addition of ComedyCon, which allows fans to experience their best-loved comedy stars up close and personal.

JFL42 was always designed to grow organically from fan expectations in a Toronto setting, say its founders. If the festival is now an energetic and robust five-year-old, festivalgoers are the older brothers and sisters who helped shape its development. The latest proof is in ComedyCon, a special series that invites hard-core comedy fans to take a peek behind the curtains for rare access to their favourite comedy stars like they’ve never seen them before — all in an intimate setting.

“The creation of ComedyCon as a new element to the festival this year was the result of that dialogue with fans and an opportunity we saw to bring more than just traditional stand-up to JFL42,” says Bruce Hills, chief operating officer at Just For Laughs. “ComedyCon introduces daytime programming with live podcast tapings and intimate Q&As with the biggest festival names, like Trevor Noah and Tig Notaro — a highlight of this year’s festival we will continue to explore in the future.”

In addition to Noah and Notaro, the series will include the likes of Jim Jefferies, Anthony Jeselnik, Chris D’Elia, Margaret Cho, Craig Robinson, Dan Harmon, Sinbad, Natasha Leggero and more. Access to the all-new ComedyCon event from Sept. 23 to 25 and Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 at Second City is available through the ComedyCon pass, which includes a ticket to any headliner show and 10 credits to see even more festival shows.

In addition to ComedyCon, it’s the JFL42 pass system that makes this festival unique.

Here’s how it works. JFL42 pass holders are provided with credits that allow them to reserve a seat at the shows they most want to see. You like the comedy flavour of Maria Bamford, or you’re just twisted enough to want to spend an evening with Emo Philips? Your credit is the vote that allows the scheduling geniuses at JFL42 to select the venue for that performer or upsize the show to a different venue. The Second City location now becomes the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, ensuring that nobody is turned away. A use-it-or-lose-it policy rewards festivalgoers for showing up by refunding their credit at the venue.

Just how many shows can a real comedy connoisseur cram into a single festival? Organizers report that one superfan typically manages to enjoy as many as 33 shows over the course of the 10 days. The average fan sees between four and five performances.

Attendees have asked why the festival insists on programming exactly 42 performers into its regularly scheduled programming. You might as well ask for the solution to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. In fact, that is the answer. Festival organizers say they were inspired by Douglas Adam’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to incorporate the number spat out by supercomputer Deep Thought after chewing on that question for 7.5 million years.

And nobody liked the number 43.

This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of JFL42.